on the sculpture terrace

Sodi’s relationship with his raw materials and the constituent elements of nature draws from his interest in wabi-sabi, a Japanese aesthetic philosophy that embraces imperfection and reveres natural authenticity above all. With studios in Puerto Escondido, Mexico; Barcelona, Spain and Brooklyn, New York; Sodi is able to develop formal processes while creating works unique to each location and its specific atmospheric conditions. His process-led creations appear to have developed naturally, the form and texture of each piece a direct result of the precipitation, heat and humidity to which it was exposed.

Sodi’s glazed volcanic rocks are excerpts from the natural world transformed through a highly physical process. Extracting chunks of hardened magma from the Ceboruco volcano in Mexico, Sodi brings together some of Earth’s most recent geological formations with ancient and precious metals, in the form of the gold ceramic glaze which encases them. Selecting each rock for its formal qualities, he glazes the brittle surface before firing the sculpture at extremely high temperatures for three days. By altering their surface texture and changing the context in which these rocks exist he reflects on our perception of value and our awareness of time. The artist creates a dynamic incongruity between the setting and the source, and external appearance and core matter, of each piece.

Untitled by Bosco Sodi, 2016, Ceramic glaze over volcanic rock

With thanks to the Blain Southern Gallery.